Adventist Church Leaders Ask for Mercy, Prayers for Death Row Adventist

Worldwide Seventh-day Adventist Church leaders have asked for mercy for an Adventist on death row in Tennessee. Leaders are asking for church members to pray for Donnie Edward Johnson, scheduled to be executed on Thursday, May 16, 2019.

Johnson is on death row for the 1984 murder of his wife, Connie Johnson. Johnson, 68, who suffocated his wife, has served 33 years on death row in a maximum-security prison near Nashville, within 10 miles of the Riverside Chapel Seventh-day Adventist Church where Johnson has been an ordained elder for more than a decade.

In a letter hand-delivered to Tennessee Governor Bill Lee on May 13, Seventh-day Adventist Church President Ted N.C. Wilson writes, “I am told that [Mr. Johnson] has brought other prisoners to Christ, leading them to make a full surrender to God, and that this is having a positive influence throughout the prison and beyond.”

Wilson asks Lee to “prayerfully consider granting mercy to Mr. Johnson by sparing his life so he may continue providing this important spiritual ministry.”

Daniel R. Jackson, president of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in North America also sent a letter to Lee on May 13. Jackson, acknowledging the “vile crime” for which Johnson has been sentenced, writes that Johnson “turned his life around and now serves as a Christian mentor to his fellow prisoners. . . . The multiple lives he helped transform via his prison ministry are only a glimpse into the many potential lives he can touch and help transform.”

According to a May 9, 2019, Tennessean report by Holly Meyer, the letters are part of a series of appeals from church members and religious leaders who recognize Johnson’s apparent remorse and transformation. This group includes the Episcopal bishops of middle and east Tennessee.

Meyer reports that Johnson, who was raised Christian, “found religion” in 1985. Five years later, two incarcerated Adventists, one who was paroled in 2007 and another who recently “made parole,” introduced him to their faith.

According to the Tennessean article, Johnson holds Bible studies inside prison and started a radio program called "What the Bible Says.” He works with about a dozen people who comprise Riverside Chapel church’s prison ministry team.

In a Tennessean video interview (by Larry McCormack, as part of the USA Today Network) published with the May 9 article, Furman Fordham II, Riverside Chapel pastor, says that he has seen Johnson serve and minister on the inside of the prison.

“In general, it is a little difficult for me as a Christian to ignore what I believe Jesus’ counsel is in John 8,” said Fordham. “Not suggesting at all that we should ignore a crime, or that we should have no consequences, but I do think there is a place for forgiveness and grace. And Don’s situation, as I understand it, is one that I think perfectly fits right in there.”

This year’s Adventist Robotics Championship Tournament, on May 5, brought together the largest number of teams competing in its 15-year history. Adventist schools and homeschooled students from all across the North American Division (U.S. and Saipan) were represented through 37 teams.

Eight years ago two mothers in the Loma Linda area wanted their young children to learn the importance of giving to those in need. But age-related legal restrictions prevented their kids’ involvement with service organizations. In connection with the academy’s home and school association, Thomas and Hegstad launched Family Volunteer Night, an annual event that partners with local nonprofits to make a direct difference in the lives of thousands of homeless and low-income individuals, senior citizens, pediatric hospital patients, and other populations.

At 4 p.m. PDT/7 p.m. EDT on May 22, 2019, university students from across North America will attend the fourth “Is This Thing On?” (ITTO) live-streamed conversation during the annual Adventist Christian Fellowship Institute. Those gathered will have the opportunity to engage with Seventh-day Adventist Church leaders from the North American Division (NAD) during a 90-minute livestreamed conversation.

On Friday, May 17, 2019, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Equality Act (H.R. 5). The bill, if it were to become law, would extend protection to gay, lesbian and transgender individuals across a broad spectrum of U.S. civil rights laws. This would include employment, housing, public accommodation, and social services. The Seventh-day Adventist Church is concerned that this legislation would further erode the religious liberty of faith communities and their members. This bill makes no allowance for communities or individuals of faith who hold traditional views of marriage and gender.